


A gift from the House of El

by orphan_account



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015), supercorp - Fandom
Genre: Alex is also clueless, Angst, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, I am Supercorp Trash, Identity Reveal, Kara Danvers - Freeform, Kara needs a hug, KaraTellsHerFutureWifeShe'sSupergirl, Kryptonian Kara Danvers, Kryptonian Science, Lena Luthor - Freeform, Lena Luthor Finds Out Kara Danvers is Supergirl, Lena Luthor Knows Kara Danvers Is Supergirl, Lex is bald, Probes, Sad Lena Luthor, Supercorp endgame, Useless Lesbians, all of the characters need therapy, guys i'm sorry, kryptonian probes, lena needs a hug, let her smash, neeneeneenerneener, pod - Freeform, someone call kelly, supergirl is super gay, tags are confusing...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-24
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:34:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 7,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21544615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Kara tells Lena about the thing. Something enters the earth's atmosphere and Kara has to go deal with it. They end up needing Lena's help.ORA kryptonian pod enters orbit and Kara needs Lena's help to figure the thing out because... deus ex machina or something.
Relationships: Alex Danvers & Lena Luthor, Kara Danvers & Lena Luthor, Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 94
Kudos: 302





	1. She knows now. No secrets... right?

**Author's Note:**

> Yello.  
> So ehm, I wrote this...  
> Because supercorp endgame and season 5 feels getting to me rn.  
> Anyways, enjoy this trashpile.  
> I'm going to make rlly short chapters to prolong the *fun*  
> Also, It's pretty pg for now, if that changes I will update the tags...  
> If you're hearing anything, that's my dignity hitting the trash can :)

“Supergirl, something has entered the atmosphere. We need you here, do you copy?”

“I’ll be over in a flash” the blonde spoke over the howling wind as she sprung from the roof of the L-Corp skyscraper, heart racing. Her meeting with Lena had gone well… right? The CEO had not taken the news lightly. Kara hadn’t expected her to seeing as she just found out her best friend had been hiding a secret of such magnitude.

There had been bitter words uttered, both to and about her, but Kara had been wrong and he knew she deserved every reprimand, every insult Lena could muster and she was mostly prepared for the verbal beat down. When the tears came, however, she was at a loss.

Her mind short circuited as Lena stood in front of her, vulnerable, and just began to cry.

Kara had stood uncomfortably, delving in the misery of the moment as she watched the strongest, most fearless woman she knew, and even looked up to, break down and cry. The tears streamed down Lena’s face, yet she was silent, no sobs, nothing.

The blonde made a small leap of faith and walked up to the brunette, wrapping her arms around her waist and pulling her into a tight hug. The first sob had escaped Lena as her body went limp and she buried her head in Kara’s shoulder. Kara had begun to weep shamelessly and both women stood in the middle of the modern office, sobbing into each other’s shoulders.

“I am so… so sorry” The blonde whispered through sobs.

“Why—“ Lena began. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner...?”

“I wanted to, Lena, please believe me. I wanted to so badly but I couldn’t hurt you.”

“This… this hurts _so much more_ than…” She broke down into sobs again, reminded of her brother’s insanity, of her mother’s betrayal.

“Lena… Lena look at me” Kara pulled Lena’s chin up, looking deep into her soft green eyes. “Do you remember when I fought Reign?” Of course she remembers, how could she forget? “I was in a coma, Lee. What if I had died? I didn’t want you to worry, I didn’t want you to lose me… more importantly, I didn’t want to lose you…” her voice trailed off. Lena dropped to the couch with a thud “please go” she whispered, wiping away the tears.

“Lena I—“

“Now… Please…”

And she did, out the balcony door and into the night, tears still streaming down her face. She made a soft turn and landed on the roof, tuning into the sound of Lena’s heartbeat. For a while she sat there, listening. Waiting. But nothing came. Except, of course, Alex’s voice calling her back to the DEO.


	2. A... A what???

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a bird... It's a plane... It's a meteorite???  
> Nope  
> It's a [REDACTED]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi  
> :)  
> Enjoy

Kara landed with a soft thud next to Alex, who had still not gotten used to the rush of air accompanying her sister.

“Ok so just a few minutes ago, our sensors picked up a large foreign object in the atmos— Are you all right?” Alex inquired. Kara’s eyes were still red.

“I’m… Alex… I told her.” Kara’s voice was faint. Recognition settled in as Alex drew Kara close into a hug. “How did she take it?”

“Not well…”

Alex briefly tightened her hug and pulled out. “Kara… you did the right thing”

“It doesn’t feel right” The blonde whispered.

“She’s going to need some time. You _will_ pull through this you hear?”

They stood in silence as Kara pulled herself together. “Why did you call?”

“Something large entered the atmosphere; it’s large and very fast. It’s going slightly slower than escape velocity so it’s still in orbit”

“So what’s the problem? Foreign objects enter our orbit all the time don’t they? Chunks of meteorite and whatnot”

“Well yes but if the object stays on its current trajectory it will take out one of the DEO’s four atmospheric control satellites”

“Well… you do have three more” Kara grinned.

“Kara… That’s not how that… Okay never mind, we need you to get up there and track it, your space suit is ready. When you get into orbit we’ll guide you to it. Once you find it, all you have to do is push it slightly faster than it’s already going, you have to get it to 11.2 kilometers per second and then it will exit orbit. It shouldn’t be too big that you can’t push it. You can fly up to 18.77 kilometers per second… as far as we know you’ve broken the sound barrier so this shouldn’t be too difficult”

Flying this high up in orbit had always scared Kara a bit, although she did not like to admit it. The suit reminded her of Lena and up there… well… she felt so deeply _lonely_.

“Where are we with tracking the thing?” Kara’s voice resounded in the helmet.

“It is currently flying above Mexico city, you have got to get over there soon though. Our satellite is in geostationary orbit directly above San Diego. It’s about 4000 kilometers away, you have about 350 seconds before impact”

Kara’s eyes zoned in as she flew southeast. She focused on the object in the distance.

As she approached the object her jaw dropped. The object was _a pod, a kryptonian pod_

“Alex… we have a situation”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, feedback fUELS ME SO LEAVE A COMMENT  
> :)  
> I'm running out of brain...


	3. Help for the house of El from the house of L

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara's going to need Lena's help cause Alex has a "hot date" (hardy haw haw)
> 
> Basically Kara feels :)

The next day. The pod sat in the middle of the concrete room, a dim blue glow ebbing from it.

Kara approached the pod slowly, barely breathing. She began to pry the capsule open carefully as J’onn watched, concerned, from the corner. The innards of the capsule were a mess. The last two capsules had been organized and had both contained a kryptonian. Mon-El’s capsule was also very simplistic, nothing but a control panel and a chair. This capsule, however, contained many smaller devices. Each device seemed haphazardly thrown into the capsule, the small control panel flashing red.

“I get the feeling we’re going to need Lena”

Kara’s heart skipped a beat at the mention of the brunette’s name. “Why?” she asked nervously, slightly louder than necessary, and blushed a deep shade of pink Alex had never seen before.

“Well, I have a date. Kelly and I are going to watch the new minions movie” Kara gasped as Alex had previously refused to join her. “Besides” the agent continued “You guys have got to talk, It’s been what like… a day and she hasn’t spoken to you?”

“She needs space, I can’t expect her to forgive me just like that!”

“Screw space! You have to talk to her, do you really think she’s one to make the first move! If you don’t talk to her, she won’t talk to you and you’re both going to be miserable.” 

“Alex I can’t… you know she—“ 

“Kara” Alex cut her off “Regardless of your squishy, mushy feelings, I have to call Lena in. She has tech at L-Corp that can help us figure out the inner workings of all these” she gestured vaguely at the pod “gizmos” she finished triumphantly. “Now… I have to go meet Kelly in like 35 minutes so either you call her or I will”

“Alex…” Kara whined. Alex picked up her phone and began to dial Lena’s number. The conversation was brief and from what Kara gathered, Lena had agreed to come to the DEO with some of her sensors and other lab apparatus prototypes the DEO did not yet have access to.

Alex left Kara standing in the middle of the deserted hallway of the E-wing of the DEO. The blonde began to pace the room nervously; the walls began closing in on her as the fear settled in. She wished sometimes that she could stop feeling, that her mind was as impervious as her skin. She wished she could ignore the hanging bit of tinsel prying at her mind.

Suddenly she felt a deep sensation of loneliness. It was nothing she had experienced before. She still had Alex and J’onn and Winn… Still, there was a large, Lena shaped hole in her heart and all the repressed feelings, the tingling sensation she got every time she laid eyes on the beautiful brunette… all that came spilling back out in a large heap of nonsense. The blonde sat down, finding immense comfort in the cold concrete pressed against her back. She closed her eyes, It was late and with the events of last night she hadn’t gotten much sleep. Sitting there on the cold floor wrapped in her cape, she thought back to the look in Lena’s soft green eyes, the look that said it all. _I’m pissed, I’m so bloody pissed but mostly I’m disappointed, I’m betrayed and I will build those damn walls up twice as thick this time._

Tears began streaming down her face silently, running through the crevasses of her face. She felt the salt on her lips, the wet trails on her face, the cold air stinging at her misery, highlighting the pain.  
 _I deserve it_ She thought, a sob escaped her. _I don’t deserve Lena_

A light tap awoke her from her misery. As she looked up, vision blurred by tears, her gaze met the soft green of Lena Luthor’s eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, If you have suggestions for where this should go plz add a comment :)
> 
> ILY ALL BYEEE


	4. Nerds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena is still not over the whole Kara = Supergirl thing. BUT, they work together to take the pod apart for research.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while... I'm sorry.  
> In my defense, school sucks.  
> Have fun reading this, it's slightly longer (heh).

A light tap awoke her from her misery. As she looked up, vision blurred by tears, her gaze met the soft green of Lena Luthor’s eyes.

“You may not deserve me, but you do need me.”

Kara’s mind jolted as she realized that she had said those words aloud. She looked Lena in the eyes and they were cold, devoid of the sweet, and oddly misplaced, warmth that accompanied the brilliant genius on her tedious trek through everyday life.

“Alex didn’t tell me much; she said you’d explain when I got here?”

“Oh, uh yeah…” She fumbled with her words, Lena’s gaze following her intently. “So ehm... So… Shortly after I left… You” She paused, a hint of uncertainty in her step “I left L corp, comms turned on. Alex had been tracking a foreign object entering the orbit. It was on a collision course with an atmospheric control satellite over San Diego. I was told to catch it… Turns out…” She stopped before the door and pressed her palm firmly against the scanner on the door. The door slid open with a quiet hiss as it revealed another standard DEO room, standard concrete walls, standard concrete ceiling, and standard black pillars. One thing about the room was, in fact, not standard. The Kryptonian pod in all its glory stood alit from below in the middle of the room.

Lena’s jaw dropped.

She had previously seen the pod in the DEO that Supergirl… _Kara_ had arrived in. This pod was different. For one thing… man was it big. The pod was oblong in shape like a large silvery loaf of perfectly baked bread. This one didn’t have wings which struck her as odd. Still the pod was beautiful, like something form an ancient world devoid of the rules that bind mankind to a certain stream of thought. A world wholly unaffected by the physical barriers of gravity. A world that has learned to break the thin film of glass separating science from pure magic.

Lena worked in silence. For a half hour she took the pod apart piece by piece with meticulous precision, her well pressed suit had been viewed as a hindrance and the jacket had been casually discarded and was now perched precariously on one of the many stools. Kara sat quietly on a ledge overlooking the room watching Lena work.

“Ok, it seems the pod is built out of three separate layers… One is for protection, this top silvery one” Lena pointed at the heap of thin, sleek sheets of metal. “It seems like some sort of tungsten carbide alloyed with some other elements I can’t... seem to quantify.”

Kara dropped down next to the brunette staring at the reading on the tiny screen of the apparatus she was feverently dragging up and down the smooth plated sheets, stopping the swift motions regularly.

“It seems the crests… logos? Whatever. They seem to be made of something alien, I can’t quantify it”

“What about the other two layers?” Kara’s voice seems hollow in the room even to her.

“The second layer is for insulation; at least I think it is. The last layer is a skeleton, just the base shape of the pod, maybe for structural concerns or maybe to help against the pressure when entering atmospheres.”

“What are those made of?”

“Well, the inner skeleton seems to be made of titanium gold lining, very thick layers of it. The insulation however…” She trailed off, peeling a small part of the insulation off and laying it on a microscope slide. “This is a sort of… organic material! This is incredible! It’s almost as if it’s alive!”

“Oh! Can I see!?”

Lena’s heart melted a bit. “Sure” she stated, trying to keep from smiling as the enthusiastic blonde pressed her face to the microscope

"Oh my gosh it's…! I can't even describe it!"

"It's quite something; it looks as though it has separate distinct cellular structures. They seem to be self-sustainable… like a sort of alien autotrophic organism…" the brunette mused. Eyes gleaming, she felt the soft organic matter; she wanted to explore the unique insulation further. It was thin, maybe 7 inches, but it was suspiciously soft and almost fluid. "It's almost non-Newtonian… but it's not really a fluid. Like blood, blood is not a fluid but rather a tissue that can act as a fluid" She could feel Kara's warmth against her back, the curiosity of the blonde did not subside. "It seems to have had an outer coating, like a layer of film almost. I think it dissolved on contact with the atmosphere."

"How can you know that?"

"Look" Lena pointed at the faint lines of residue on the outer metal housing of the pod where it met the organic insulation. She pulled a long tube out of her pocket and began to draw it over the residue slowly. The tube was connected to a small display pad she held in her outstretched hand for Kara to see. "I don't get it." Kara admitted after a few moments of silence. "Look" Lena repeated, pointing at the display, "these here are elements, you see that? Ar, N, O. Argon Nitrogen and Oxygen. They seem to have oxidized and combined with whatever was here before, though that's just an idea seeing that most of this mixture is elements I can't quantify, something elemental from another world."

"Whoa…"

Lena began to carefully extract apparatus from within the pod, slowly laying each piece on the tall white tables. Object after object appeared in front of Kara’s hungry, curious gaze until the pod was but a metallic skeleton with some parts still attached.

“Where shall we start?” Lena asked playfully.

“Let’s start with something… that!” The blonde exclaimed pointing at one of the many inch thick golden disks covered in inscriptions. Upon further inspection, and some help from the Kryptonian android that looked like Kara’s mother, the disk turned out to be a recording. Ancient Kryptonian hymns praising Rao, the god of sun.

“The ancient hymns of Krypton” the droid hummed “encoded into a macrocodex. Each macrocodex can store the human equivalent of 1200 terabytes of data. In order to read the macrocodexes, Kryptonians used something akin to human computers. On Krypton, the processing power of the ‘computers’ was far greater than that of a human computer” The droid quieted.

“We can’t read the disks” Kara said as her heart fell.

Lena felt a sudden pang of guilt. This woman had lost everything, her planet, her family, her culture. And yet here she was, refusing to cooperate for what? Dignity? Pride? 

“I can find a way” The brunette blurted out without thinking.

“Really?” Kara’s face lit up.

 _No_ “Yes” she blurted once again.

“Lena… You’d… I mean… Thank you!”

“Truth be told… I think I may already have one.”

“What ? How do you mean?”

“My team and I… well, we’ve been tinkering with quantum technology. We’ve developed a supercomputer but it is somewhat unstable, if our calculations are correct we can get it to read nearly 1400 terabytes.” Kara’s jaw dropped. Lena continued “I wanted to keep this away from the public as much as I could. Not only is this highly experimental, we quite literally cannot test it yet as we don’t have anything to run through it. We’ve never had a USB with 1400 terabytes of data until…” her voice trailed off as she met Kara’s eye,

“You have to try it”

“Kara… It could ruin the disks… maybe permanently; if the prototype isn’t operational we could lose another part of krypton.” She stopped abruptly, suddenly very aware of the words that had escaped her mouth. Without missing a beat, Kara snapped back;

“But Lena, if we _don’t_ try, I won’t even have a chance at accessing that part of Krypton at all! Lena… please” Her voice became weak with despair as she attempted to convey to Lena the utter solitude she had felt on earth, among the humans. The solitude that left her only in the presence of Alex and J’onn, and if she was _completely honest_ Lena.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've noticed scientific inaccuracy or grammar errors please let me know :)  
> And feedback on the general story is also appreciated.  
> Where should I go with this?? any ideas???


	5. Vault

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara flies Lena to Lex's vault???

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeet

“Alright fine, I’ll try” Lena stated, defeated by Kara’s blue-gray puppy eyes.

“Thank you Lena” Kara said with a sigh of relief. “But…” the genius continued “I’m going to need to grab some things from L-Corp and I might have to stop by one of Lex’s vaults. He had something… a Kryptonian dictionary basically.”

“What? Where did he get that?”

“Well… he wrote it. He…” She sighed, unable to shake the feeling of uncertainty accompanying her everywhere she went. “He, as you know, had an obsession with superman. He thought he could find the fortress of solitude if he knew some Kryptonian. He always figured it would come in handy someday, that it would somehow help him defeat… _kill_ superman”

“Oh… Well at least we can use it now. I can read Kryptonian but I get the feeling that you would make more sense of what’s written on these” She reasoned, examining one of the many disks. “maybe… Do you want me to fly you there?”

“What?”

“I mean… You don’t have to… I just thought you might… It would be faster. It’s okay if you don’t want to” She stumbled. Lena felt compelled to refuse, she hadn’t told many people this but she had been afraid of extreme height since the Daxamite invasion. Or maybe since the incident with Lex… honestly she didn’t know. The prospect of flying had never really appealed to her, planes were not really expensive for her but they were always associated with business deals and visiting her international branches. Today, she felt adventurous.

“Are you sure?” She asked with slight concern. “I it’s… ya know… safe?” Lena blushed momentarily, Kara began to laugh brightly and Lena’s shoulders fell with relief. “Of course it’s safe! Lena! I’ve carried a plane on my shoulders! And besides, you can’t possibly be that heavy, look at you”

A brief moment of silence followed as the caped hero blushed. “Alright… Fly me to L-Corp _Supergirl_ ” the brunette stated with a mischievous grin. Kara strode over to the genius and wrapped her arms around her, pulling her into a tight hug. Lena’s breath hitched even before they took off.

\--- 

The vault was quite impressive, or at least Kara thought so, though she couldn't go in as the inner atmosphere was irradiated with Kryptonite. Lena however, had gone through the air lock and disappeared within. The walls were, unfortunately, lined with lead. As the clock struck 3:00, Kara began to worry. Her stomach sank but slowly, painfully. At last, Lena waltzed out of the vault doors. She had seemed slightly dishevelled but she was beaming from ear to ear. In her arms, she carried carefully a large triangular sheath of sleek black metal with wires sticking out from the back, nicely packed into a micro usb.

“You okay?” Kara asked, looking rather concerned. “All good, some of Lex’s things were still there. It had been a while since I’ve been to one of his vaults and honestly… it’s an experience.”

The flight back was slower, the equipment may have been small but it had forced Kara to carry Lena bridal style. As the dark of the night enveloped them, Lena felt strangely at ease. She let herself relax a little against the warmth of Kara’s body as she looked her in the eyes. Oh those eyes… Kara’s eyes were focused intensely forward. There was something so primordially comforting in those eyes, an ancient sort of comfort, of knowing you are safe, sound, and loved… _loved_

It was at that moment that Lena had become painfully aware of how grateful she was that Kara couldn’t read minds… could she?

“Can you?”

“Can I what?” Kara asked, eyes locking on Lena’s.

“Nevermind” the brunette muttered under her breath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeet :)
> 
> thanks for reading


	6. Visible discomfort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don't want to spoil it :)

They landed at the DEO; it was almost 4 in the morning. Neither of them have slept very much and that was beginning to show, but Lena was not one to give up a project halfway, especially one that was so _interesting_. She poured over the keyboard they had brought from L-Corp that was wired to a DEO monitor and a tiny engraved metallic box, housing for the prototype supercomputer.

A loud bang came from the door and Lena turned abruptly from her work. “Aw damn” Kara was heaving a long white couch into the room. The couch was unfortunately slightly larger than she had anticipated and she got stuck, quite comically, between the doorframe and the couch. She wriggled out from the grasp of the couch and pushed from behind. “Kara?” The brunette mused, eyebrow raised. “What are you doing?”

“I got a ehm… a couch” she stated, as if it was the most regular thing in the world.

“Why?”

“For you! If you want it that is”

Lena stared, bemused. “Kara, you could have asked. I do appreciate it but I need to work!”

“Okay well…” Kara knew that Lena wouldn’t budge; she wanted to keep the offer on the table though. “Can you bring your work over here, I want to watch.” She said, half joking half serious. “Why don’t you bring yourself over here _Supergirl_?”

“Oh come on Lena… humor me!”

“Fine…” Lena said groggily, too tired to argue. Truth be told, she wanted to sink into the couch with or without Kara. She wanted to let the comfort envelop her until she grew numb to the incessant and promiscuous troubles of everyday life. Lena brought the keyboard and the box over to the couch, “I’m starting to set the computer up, so far it seems that we can process it, all the data on these disks. The question is, how do we connect Kryptonian disks to Earth technology?” She looked over at Kara when she received no response only to see her sleeping peacefully wedged into the corner of the couch. Lena smiled privately at the seemingly innocent woman on the couch next to her. The goddess, puppy combination. She had to remind herself that she was still upset with the betrayal as she worked on, tapping rhythmically at the keys. Her eyes began to lose focus. Slowly she began to fall asleep.

\---

Kara awoke; it was still fairly early as far as she could tell, maybe 6 in the morning? She looked down slowly. The first thing she noticed was Lena’s form huddled closely, back pressed firmly to her chest. Her heart did a mini somersault as her mind blanked and started making fax machine noises. She wrapped her arms around Lena, still hazy and closed her eyes again tuning into Lena’s heartbeat, the rhythmic thumps lulling her back to sleep slowly.

\---

The next time she awoke, it was Lena trying to wriggle free from her grasp. Kara hazily released her and turned to her side. For convenience sake she decided to go back to sleep rather than confront the situation head on. She did, however, hear Lena rise from the couch and resume the rhythmic typing on the keyboard. Shortly afterwards, maybe ten minutes later, Lena gave out a small squeak of excitement and that’s when Kara decided to make her presence known. She rose and began to stretch, watching Lena intently as the brunette stood from the stool and ran over to the box that still housed some of the things they had brought back from Lex’s vault. She pulled the sleek black metal triangle out and plugged it into another box, this one was long with rounded edges and a few lines of buttons. Lena, still unaware of Kara’s conscious state pulled her shirt off and attached the triangle to her back so it ran from between her shoulder blades to the small of her back. Kara gasped slightly and Lena did a full 180 on her heels. Both women blushed a crimson red. Lena stood, dress pants and lace bra, in front of Kara, her milky white skin exposed to the dimly lit room. Kara stood, deer in headlights, mouth agape, staring.

“I’m so sorry…” Kara mumbled finally as she turned around, cheeks burning. “It’s fine” Lena’s voice sounded through the fabric of her shirt. “You can turn back around now” she said as she finished pulling the dark orange shirt over her head, a bulge forming where the wires left the sleek black metal on her back.

“So umm… what is that?” Kara asked shyly once she’s recovered from the embarrassment. “This is Lex’s translation device. It connects to contact lenses and translates directly using a database on the box. Apparently it also translates Chinese, Latin, Swedish and Martian. There are a few of these database boxes for all sorts of different languages, I thought of building a more compatible and small version for simple translation globally but it would require the quantum supercomputer processor and those are definitely not going to be available to the public for a while… Oh! The crest on your suit!” she exclaimed pointing at the suit which had previously been discarded for something more comfortable. “It says El!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading...  
> the coMMENTS STILL FUEL ME SO LEAVE SOME!  
> YEET


	7. Polygraph

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry, I tried my best.  
> :)

It was approximately 8 in the morning when the first piece of equipment had been summoned from one of the boxes. Lena had decided to begin with a contraption that looked remarkably like an oversized stapler. It was matte gold, made of two parts on what looked like a hinge. The top half of the contraption was engraved with a large crest, one which Lena’s device could not translate but which Kara recognized as the seal of the Kryptonian federal justice court. Lena began to fidget with the openings along the bottom, with a soft hiss the two sections slid together to form a uniform box. The two parts had come flush with each other leaving a large hole running from one side to the other. A small red inscription had appeared along the top of the box reading “no biomass detected”. The two halves slid open once more. “Strange” Lena muttered.

“What is it?”

“Couldn’t tell you but… It needs a living being” the brunette stated with conviction, glancing at Kara. “Well… I’m a living being.” Kara stated simply.

“What are you suggesting?”

“We should try it.”

“Try what? You don’t even know what this thing is. What if it’s dangerous? What if it hurts, or worse, kills you?”

“Why would the federal court make a device to kill kryptonians? Besides, with the yellow sun there’s nothing that could kill me except for kryptonite and on krypton, kryptonite was just a rock because the red sun nullified its effects.”

“I don’t think this is a good idea Kara”

“Lena, I need to know what this stuff is! You’re the only one that can help me. Alex definitely wouldn’t allow it, she’d probably tell us to find another way to figure out what this is.”

“Then maybe that’s what we should do! Alex is quite literally the most reasonable person we know! Well maybe after J’onn”

“Yes but Lena, we need to know! Aren’t you even in the least bit curious?”

“Yes. Yes I am but Kara, we need to know that it won’t hurt you before we try anything!”

“Ok… I can see into it” the blonde said gesturing at the apparatus “so it’s definitely not lead and if there was kryptonite in there I would be able to feel it at this proximity”

“Fine! Damn you and your puppy eyes! But before we do anything I’m gonna…” she trailed off plunging her arm into another one of the many boxes. Before Kara could inquire further, Lena’s hand emerged followed by a miniscule white box with a few black lines of kryptonian text. “What does this say?”

“Chemical composition analysis. Press black face of cube to surface for bare scan, for deep scan hold… that’s about 3 inches on earth, away from— “

“Does Krypton have a separate mathematical system?!”

“Yes”

“Holy shit Kara! You didn’t think of mentioning this earlier!”

“No… Is it important?”

“Not really but… yes, yes! Are you kidding? If Krypton has a separate mathematical system that you are _aware_ of, it could help us adapt Kryptonian technologies and apply them to the real world! This could be a huge breakthrough! Not just for the DEO, for the world!”

“I mean, I hadn’t really given it that much thought. I suppose yeah, but can we figure that out later? I want to know what this thing is” Kara waved at the giant stapler.

“Yeah okay, I just need to…” The held the white box above the golden surface and began waving it around. “Nothing… It’s picking up loads of things but none of them are kryptonite so I suppose we can try this”

“Yess! Thank you Lena! What do we do?”

“Ok, I think this hole is for the arm, like a blood pressure reader. Put your arm through here.” Kara slipped her arm into the crevice on the bottom half of the stapler looking apparatus. Lena, again, began fidgeting with the openings, and again, with a soft hiss the two halves slid closed, firmly gripping Kara’s arm. Momentarily, a display appeared on the smooth top of the apparatus just below the seal of the court. Kara’s eyes began to wander the room as Lena deciphered the words strung into sentences in front of her on the display. A few moments passed and finally the brunette inhaled sharply. The realization hit her like a ton of bricks. Kara looked over at her, worried and asked the question to which Lena had found the answer; “What is it?”

“This…” Lena began “Is essentially a highly sophisticated polygraph” she finished in awe.

“That’s the one where you ask a question and the lines tell if you’re lying?”

“Sort of… But so much better!”

“What do you mean? Let me see!” The blonde exclaimed craning her neck to see the display that had Lena in such a state of chock.

_Anxious, curious, another word this stupid thing cant translate and… smitten,_ Although the translations could not be direct the monitor unmistakably read smitten. _Smitten? By what? Why anxious?_

Kara’s eyes had been seeking out the display vigorously but she could not see it and for that Lena was thankful. She stopped trying and instead began to whine “Leeeenaaa, what does it say?”. As Kara’s eyes trailed onto the brunette, she almost forgot how to breathe. One of the bars on the display had outgrown all the others, not by much but certainly by enough. _Love_ The bar read love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading :)


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> just read :)

The door slides open, Alex strides in. “How’s the progress? Where are we with the tech?” She fires off, question after question until her eyes locate Kara behind the bulky metallic stapler form on the desk. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Lena blushes, deeper than before, as she feebly attempts to explain why Kara Danvers was wedged into a metallic stapler.

“LENA! I THOUGHT YOU WERE RESPONSIBLE! What were you THINKING???” Alex raged, trying to get Kara’s arm out of the hole.

“Alex, relax. We know what it is and what it does.” Kara exhaled, Alex still fussing over the Kryptonian tech. “Ok…” Alex paused briefly. “What does it do?” she asked, skeptically. “Lena?” Kara redirected.

“It lets you read emotions… It’s a highly advanced polygraph for Kryptonians”

“So you can see how Kara feels?”

“Yeah that’s really it” Lena faltered under the elder Danvers’ glare. Alex strode over to where Lena was still glaring at the monitor, eying the bulge on the back of her shirt. She glanced at the monitor, then at Kara. “What does it say?” The graph had been calibrated by Lena the primary four. The four things she felt the strongest at the moment.

“Well… This one” the genius began with the smallest bar on the graph “this one reads anxiety or anxious. This second one reads curious or curiosity. This one reads…” She paused glancing at the blonde sitting patiently, looking her in the eyes, _in the soul_. “Smitten.” She finished.

Alex paused for a second, “What about the last one?” Lena looked again at the puppy in the chair. This would reveal some possibly private information. _Lie_ she thought _Lie like the Luthor that you know you are_ . “This one says hungry.” Alex begun giggling as the tension dissipated, though Kara could still sense that something was off. “Alright, fine. Please be careful next time… Lena… I trust you.”

“I know. We’re being careful. We’ll be careful, promise.”

And with that final thought, Alex left them to their own shenanigans. She figured they’d be fine, she had some business to take care of anyways.

\--- 

“What’s wrong Lena?” Kara demanded as the stapler slid open, freeing the kryptonian.

“Nothing”

“That’s a lie. I can see—“ She stopped mid-sentence. The genius had her back to Kara but she could still hear the faint whimper. “Lena?” She prodded gently.

“I lied… I lied to Alex. The monitor didn’t read hungry” A laughter-stifled sob escaped her. “I couldn’t tell her. It wasn’t hers to know, it was yours. And I’m sorry even I found out!”

“Lena… What did the monitor read?”

“Doesn’t matter. I lied to Alex, and she… she believed me. I try to distance myself from the deceit of my family but… It’s engrained in me… I can’t… Our friendship was a mistake. You deserve better And you…” She trailed off. Kara was quiet, waiting for a continuation. It didn’t come. Lena’s figure went limp, shoulders dropped. Kara, forgetting herself, walked up behind her slowly and put a hand on her shoulder. The warmth of her fingers rushed down Lena’s spine. She sank into the touch slowly.

“Lena…”

“Kara listen. I know it’s none of my business, not really. The monitor… the reading? It read love…” A pin drop could be heard in the silence following that statement. “And I get that it may not be towards… I mean you might just have so much love in your heart it may always read love” She giggled through tear filled eyes.

“Lena… I know we’ve been through a lot. You’ve been through a lot. When I didn’t tell you about the supergirl thing, it was not because I didn’t trust you. It was because I could trust you with myself, with you I could _be_ myself… You didn’t judge me on my world saving abilities… You just took how I was and you made do with what you got.” By this point Lena had been trying to repress her tears long enough. The first tear streamed down her face slowly making its way through the smooth crevasses of her skin, the slow sting weighing on her. “Lee?” the blonde whispered, turning her by the shoulders to face her soft green eyes. “Lena, I’m so sorry. I’ve been hiding this for a while… The hardest thing I’ve ever had to do is to cut you out of me… It is so difficult especially since you don’t even know you’re there. I don’t expect you to reciprocate seeing all that’s happened... Truth is, you’ve taken up such a vast expanse of… of me! I hadn’t even realized how much I lived for those crumbs of attention you gave. I didn’t tell you because I was afraid you wouldn’t miss me, that you would never know how empty I feel without you. I thought to myself ‘I would never tell you, this is my last shred of self-preservation and I will never let this go. I willed myself to walk away but—“

“I love you too…” Lena whispered into her shoulder. Kara’s eyes widened as she held on for dear life to this fleeting moment, to this incredible woman nestled between her arms. “Lee?” she whispered again, pushing her away slightly, lifting her chin with her index finger. The soft blue-gray eyes looked deep into Lena's soul and she felt warmth. For the first time in her life she felt vulnerable and warm.

Their lips met, tenderly at first, exploring new waters. They had both been so uncertain, so tear stricken the kiss was almost salty. 

A moment of sobriety passed between them.

“Please don’t let me turn you into a stranger” the blonde whispered faintly. Lena’s heart broke. She didn’t deserve this. Kara didn’t deserve this. _Screw it, us against the world_ she thought and pressed herself against the blonde once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you thought. I haven't written things like this before.  
> Thanks all :)
> 
> Folks, I wanted to clarify something. The reason for Lena being emotionally unstable is not because I want to be lazy but morose because I cannot believe that after all that she has been through she can be emotionally stable by any metric. I just personally think that the emotional abuse and her family's history would make her more sensitive.  
> Thank you.  
> :)


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Short Chapter about feels :)

Kara awoke long before Lena did. Slowly processing what had happened, she began to draw circles on the pale smooth skin of the figure pressed to her, sleeping peacefully. Lena woke slowly, nuzzling into the crook of Kara’s neck. Her mind short circuited as she realized where she was, what she had done.

“Oh! Shit, I’m sorry”

“What for?” The blonde asked, still hazy.

“Well you know… yesterday. I’m… I think I may have overstepped. Please don’t let this lapse in judgment—“

“Lena.” The blonde started sternly, “You did not overstep, letting you read my emotions was stupid on my behalf. Besides… I’m really glad I did” She finished softly.

“Why?”

“Because otherwise this” she gestured at the couch they were nestled in “All this wouldn’t have happened…” She trailed off. “Listen… If you regret it you don’t have to—“

“Are you kidding? Regret. No way in hell do I regret that… unless.” A long pause followed “Unless you do.”

“Lee. I need you to listen to me carefully because this is really important. I have loved you from the start. You are such an incredible person. Everything you did to get L-Corp’s name clean, every time you helped me save the fricking _world!_ You are good. The truth is… you mean everything to me and I just don’t know where I’d be without you.”

After a moment of deliberation Lena spoke up; “What if I’m not enough?” she mumbled.

“You _are_ enough. You are so much _more_ than enough. Honestly Lena, It used to hurt me so much when I heard you speaking to your mother, I thought it was because of what she said to you but really… It hurt because you believed her. Because you honestly saw yourself as a product of hate!” Kara pulled Lena closer “You came from love and you will always, _always_ come back to it. Lena. I love you. And I will spend the rest of my life reminding you of that until you _believe_ me” There was quite simply nothing more to say. Lena was pressed to Kara’s chest as the DEO room filled with sunrise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your readerSHIp  
> :)  
> Sorry I haven't posted for a thicc while things have been busy. I will post a one shot at some point :)


	10. A brief conclusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ehm...  
> They tell Alex :)

_Six months later_

\---

A knock at the door woke Kara from her thoughts. She slid the door open and in strode Alex looking professional as per usual. “You wanted to talk about something?” She asked just before stopping dead center of the room; “Oh! Hello Lena! Didn’t know you’d be here.”

“Yeah, we actually have something to tell you.”

“If it’s about the Kryptonian technology from the pod we could’ve done this at the DEO.”

“Well there are updates on that but not many, Lena has been at L-Corp a lot and I’ve been supering so we’ve only had a few hours with the tech” Alex looked at Kara, then at Lena. The look of reassurance Kara gave her explained nothing. “Right so what’s the problem?” Alex asked, concern rising in her voice. Lena gave Kara a look which Alex could only assume meant ‘you got this’.

“Well… here’s the thing right. Lena and I are kind of dating”

Alex stood quietly not really knowing what to say. Eventually; “Kara that’s great! How long has this been happening?”

“Like seven months?”

Lena interjected, “well it’s only really been five and a half months but you know…”

“How did this happen anyways?”

“Kryptonian polygraph thing forcibly outed me to Lena”

“And boy am I glad it did” Lena said smoothly.

“I’m… happy for you, I really am. You both deserve a win.”

“Thanks Alex, you’re my favorite sister!”

“Only sister” Alex corrected, grinning. “Right well I better head out then, date night… do you want to join us? Kelly and I?”

“We wouldn’t want to intrude.” Lena said, glancing over at Kara. Kara, gathering that Lena had other _things_ planned and interjected before Alex could offer anything more “Maybe some other time, we could do a proper double date?”

“Sure, just give me a call.” And with that, she was out.

Kara glanced at Lena who was now sitting on the tall stool in her oversized Wynonna Earp sweater and a pair of black sweatpants. Kara returned to the baking cupcakes, pulling them out of the oven with her bare hands. She glanced over at Lena with a grin “Frosting time!”. Lena smiled ear to ear. 

“Check it out” The blonde spoke once the handheld mixer stopped. She could have used her superspeed and done it herself but that would feel less authentic. She plows her finger through the smooth peaks of the icing in the bowl and tastes it. 

“Forget about me?” Lena mused after the groan of satisfaction escaped Kara’s lips.

“Never.” And with that she plunged her finger into the icing again. Bringing her finger to Lena’s mouth, her fingers made contact as the cold icing was licked clean off. She grinned looking down at the wonderful woman sitting in front of her in the comfy sweater, _her_ comfy sweater that she had given Lena as a gift, well not really but Lena had worn it more often then she had anyways.

“You gonna finish those cupcakes now?” Lena asked after a solid minute of silence.

“I just really love looking at you.” Kara breathed.

“Well in that case—“ She was cut off by the soft contact of warm lips against hers. Kara wrapped her arms around Lena and that was all that needed to be said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well... That's that then :)  
> Thanks for reading and leave a comment to let me know what to work on.  
> Feel free to send me prompts on tumblr (judystfrancy.tumblr.com) or instagram (@lenaluthorprotectionsquad)  
> I want to write more stuff so yeah :)  
> toodles.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading chief :)  
> I, much like Lena Luthor, thrive on kind words and good feedback.  
> I'd much appreciate a comment :)  
> toodles


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